Tile flooring in Florissant, MO

The side entry is the first place we point people. In most Florissant ranches and split-levels the family comes in through the door by the carport or the garage, not the front door, and from November through March that means road salt, slush and cinder grit. Porcelain does not care. It takes a wet boot, a snow shovel and a salt bag without staining, and a dark grout keeps winter from showing on the floor for four months.

Then the baths. The hall bath in a 1960s Florissant home usually still has its original ceramic wall tile and a small floor that has gone chalky at the grout. Tile is the right answer for the same reason it was then, it just goes down over a proper modern build now. Kitchens are the third spot, especially where a homeowner wants something under the sink that will survive a dishwasher hose letting go someday.

Tile cracks when the floor under it moves, and Florissant houses move. A joisted ranch floor with 2x8 framing over a full basement flexes more than tile likes, so we check deflection, add plywood where the subfloor is thin and set an uncoupling membrane before the first tile. That membrane is why our grout lines are still tight years later, and it is the line item people are tempted to cut. We do not recommend cutting it.

Old work comes out first. Mud-set floors from the fifties and sixties are heavy and stubborn, and demolition is a real part of the price on those jobs. Basement slabs are their own problem. A hairline crack that has been quiet for forty years can be bridged, but an active crack that has lipped needs different treatment. We look at all of it during the estimate rather than discovering it on install day and calling you with bad news.

The estimate covers more than square footage. Erik looks at how the floor meets the cabinets and the tub, where the transitions land, whether the toilet flange will need raising once the floor gets thicker, and how the new height meets the carpet in the next room. Those details are where tile jobs go wrong. Tile selection happens in the showroom, where you can lay a sample next to a grout board instead of judging by a website photo.

On site we protect the path in, tear out and haul the old floor, repair the subfloor and set the membrane. Tile goes down, then it cures overnight before grout. Most Florissant bath or entry jobs run three to four days with the curing time built in, and a large kitchen takes longer. We caulk the perimeter and every change of plane instead of grouting it, because that is what keeps a corner from cracking.